TechSmith Hello World

Overview

Capture a screenshot with Snagit's COM API and render a Camtasia project to MP4 -- the two fundamental TechSmith automation operations.

Instructions

Step 1: Snagit Image Capture (PowerShell)

# Create a Snagit image capture object
$capture = New-Object -ComObject Snagit.ImageCapture

# Configure capture settings
$capture.Input = 4          # siiWindow = 4 (capture active window)
$capture.Output = 2         # sioFile = 2 (save to file)
$capture.OutputImageFile.FileType = 4  # sitJPEG = 4
$capture.OutputImageFile.Directory = "C:\Screenshots"
$capture.OutputImageFile.Filename = "capture"

# Enable preview in Snagit Editor
$capture.EnablePreview = $false  # Set $true to open in editor

# Capture!
$capture.Capture()
Write-Host "Screenshot saved to C:\Screenshots\capture.jpg"

Step 2: Snagit Video Capture (PowerShell)

$videoCapture = New-Object -ComObject Snagit.VideoCapture

$videoCapture.Input = 2       # siiRegion = 2
$videoCapture.Output = 2      # sioFile = 2
$videoCapture.OutputImageFile.Directory = "C:\Recordings"

# Start recording
$videoCapture.Capture()
# Recording starts -- manually stop via Snagit UI or timer

Step 3: Camtasia Batch Production

# Render a .tscproj to MP4 using CamtasiaProducer
$producer = "C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia 2025\CamtasiaProducer.exe"

& $producer `
  /i "C:\Projects\tutorial.tscproj" `
  /o "C:\Output\tutorial.mp4" `
  /preset "MP4 - Smart Player (up to 1080p)" `
  /watermark "none"

Write-Host "Camtasia render complete: tutorial.mp4"

Step 4: Python Automation

import win32com.client

# Snagit image capture
capture = win32com.client.Dispatch("Snagit.ImageCapture")
capture.Input = 0       # siiDesktop = 0 (full screen)
capture.Output = 2      # sioFile
capture.OutputImageFile.FileType = 3  # sitPNG
capture.OutputImageFile.Directory = "C:\\Screenshots"
capture.OutputImageFile.Filename = "auto_capture"
capture.EnablePreview = False
capture.Capture()
print("Screenshot captured via Python")

Output

Screenshot saved to C:\Screenshots\capture.jpg
Camtasia render complete: tutorial.mp4

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
`Snagit not running`	COM requires Snagit open	Launch Snagit first
`Access denied` on capture	Screen lock or UAC	Run as administrator
Camtasia render fails	Missing codec	Install required codec pack
Output file exists	Overwrite conflict	Add timestamp to filename

Resources

Next Steps

Proceed to techsmith-local-dev-loop for development workflow.